Income & Financial Assets

Chicago thrives when people have the opportunity to earn a good living and build financial security. Strong and stable communities depend on residents having the resources to manage their finances, build assets, and plan for the future.

Photo Credit: City Colleges of Chicago

The Chicago Community Trust works to help individuals and families facing financial challenges earn more, build financial stability, and create a stronger financial future. Through programs, policies and partnerships, the Trust connects people with education, employment opportunities, and financial resources.

Our Vision

We envision a Chicago region where every resident has the opportunity to achieve financial stability, pursue economic opportunity, and build long-term financial security.

Achieving this vision requires sustained investment, strong partnerships, and a willingness to learn alongside communities. The Trust draws on insights from grant recipients, partners, research, and people most directly affected by these challenges to inform its work.

Income & Financial Assets:
State of the Space

Financial health – a household’s ability to meet daily needs, manage shocks, and build long-term security – is foundational to individual well-being, family stability, and strong local economies. Yet too many households across the Chicago region continue to struggle to make ends meet, recover from financial setbacks, or invest in their future.

The Financial Health Pulse® 2025 Chicago Trends Report found that financial well-being varies dramatically across the region. Approximately one-third of residents on Chicago’s South and West sides are financially vulnerable, compared with just 11% on the North Side. Even among households earning between $60,000 and $100,000 annually, only 27% are financially healthy, demonstrating that income alone does not guarantee long-term financial security.

Expanding economic opportunity requires more than higher earnings. The Trust supports coordinated strategies that help residents increase income, strengthen financial health, reduce debt, and access the education, employment, and financial resources needed to achieve long-term financial security.

Barriers to Growing Income & Financial Assets Include:

Where We Focus

The Trust supports programs, policies and partnerships that help individuals and families increase income, strengthen financial health, and build long-term economic security.

Increase Access to Quality Employment

For individuals facing barriers to stable employment, the Trust supports efforts to:

  • Increase access to quality employment by supporting workforce development, career advancement, strong employer practices, and wraparound services that help individuals succeed in quality jobs.

  • Strengthen household financial health by expanding access to financial education, savings opportunities, affordable financial products and services, debt reduction, and strategies that improve long-term financial stability.

  • Expand access to postsecondary education and career pathways by increasing opportunities to earn affordable, career-aligned credentials and degrees and strengthening connections between education, workforce training, and employment.

Collaboration is Needed

The Trust collaborates with a wide range of external partners, including community organizations, local government, and civic and corporate leaders to help increase wealth, opportunities and well-being for every Chicagoan.

Here Are Opportunities to Engage:

The Trust collaborates with a wide range of external partners, including community organizations, local government, and civic and corporate leaders, on ways we can work together or alongside one another to help increase wealth, opportunities and well-being for every Chicagoan.   

Here are opportunities to engage:

  • Chicagoland Workforce Funders Alliance: A collaboration of employers, philanthropy, workforce organizations, and public partners working to increase employment, earnings, and career advancement for Chicago-area workers. Through investments in career pathway programs and workforce systems, the initiative helps residents prepare for and succeed in quality jobs across growing industries.
  • Transfer Impact Innovation Model (TIIM): A partnership with Kinship Foundation that strengthens pathways from community colleges to four-year institutions, helping more students earn degrees that lead to quality careers and greater economic opportunity. Donors can support this work with gifts to TIIM, which enables two-year and four-year college institutions to develop coordinated transfer pathways that improve student success. For information about supporting TIIM, contact the Trust’s Chief Philanthropy Officer Sheila Cawley at scawley@cct.org or 312-565-4172. Contact Sonianne Lozada, program manager for Income & Small Business, at slozada@cct.org for general information about the program.

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